Question of the day: What was your greatest Christmas gift ever?

The greatest gift ever: A real New York Mets jersey!Dave Murray | MLive.com

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. -- All Christmas gifts are wonderful when they come from the heart, but some are extra special.

Like Raphie and his Red Ryder Carbine-Action Two-Hundred-Shot Range Model Air Rifle, it can be prize that we’ve obsessed over. Or, it can be something of great sentimental value, like a family treasure passed down through generations.

With Christmas rapidly approaching – just a couple shopping days left – we want to hear about that super-special gift from years gone by.

Let me tell you about mine.

You have to understand that I've always loved baseball jerseys almost as much as the game itself. I’ve always paid close attention to what players were wearing, taking notice of every slight design change and patch. The uniforms worn on the fronts of baseball cards were studied just as closely as the statistics on the back.

Stores didn't start selling polyester replicas until I was in high school. They were not as close to the real thing as to the replicas you see in stores today. The lettering was screen-printed, and there were no buttons.

And, much to my dismay, the stores near me on Long Island never seemed to have jerseys for my beloved Mets.

So I collected the replicas of the lesser teams. These polyester shirts were an essential part of my wardrobe, along with the three-quarter-sleeved, baseball-styled concert shirts purchased by guys with duffel bags in the Nassau Coliseum parking lot after the shows. Find a photograph of me from that era, and I likely will be wearing one or the other.

I was satisfied with the replicas, because mere mortals did not walk around in authentic baseball jerseys at the time. And it was almost incomprehensible that I could own the very same jersey the Mets wear on the field. We’d only seem them in one place away from the ballpark, a store called Cosby’s that supplied the team, and at a price that seemed astronomical.

But at our Christmas gathering in 1984, I remember being handed a box. With all eyes in the family watching, I pulled away the wrapping paper and lifted off the lid.

And there, I set my eyes on the most beautiful thing ever: An authentic, pull-over New York Mets jersey with the new blue-and-orange racing stripes. The. Real. Thing. I remember running my fingers over the sewn-on letters in awe.

It was just like the one Tom Seaver wore in his homecoming, and that Dwight Gooden had worn that season. It was a magical thing. We later added the patch worn by the team during its 25th anniversary, keeping it up to date.

Lacking a decent -- or any -- fastball and the ability to hit a curve, this was as close as I was going get to being on the team.

Naturally, I wore it everywhere.
I’m sure everyone has a story about a special gift from Christmas past. Share your story with us here in the comments.